Coconut Kefir substitute

Best substitute

Unsweetened coconut yogurt thinned with water or coconut water

Use 3 tbsp coconut yogurt plus 1 tbsp water for every ¼ cup coconut kefir, plus a squeeze of lemon

Best for smoothies

Close match

Cultured coconut milk loosened to a pourable consistency, which is essentially what coconut milk kefir is.

Other coconut kefir substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Water kefir
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
Sugar-water fermented with water kefir grains, thin, tart and naturally sparkling.
What changes
Best for
drinking, smoothies, salad dressings, replacing coconut water kefir specifically
The right swap if your recipe means coconut water kefir, because both are thin, fizzy, sharply tart and dairy-free, with a similar spread of live cultures. It has none of coconut's flavour or fat, so a smoothie made with it is lighter and cleaner and a chia pudding will not thicken the same way. If the recipe meant the thick coconut milk kind, water kefir is far too thin and you should use thinned coconut yogurt instead. Homemade water kefir varies a lot in sourness, so taste before measuring.
3Plain unflavoured kombucha
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
Fermented sweetened tea, tart and fizzy, widely available where kefir is not.
What changes
Best for
drinking, smoothies, dressings and marinades, replacing coconut water kefir
A reasonable stand-in for the thin coconut water style. Both are lightly fizzy fermented drinks with live cultures and a similar acidity, so a dressing or a smoothie works fine. The differences are flavour and tannin: kombucha tastes of tea, sometimes noticeably so, with a drier, more vinegary finish than kefir's rounded tang, and its bacterial mix is different. Buy plain rather than a fruit flavour, and do not use it where the recipe wants creaminess, because there is none.
4Dairy kefir
Close match
Use the same amount
Ordinary cultured milk kefir, the original version of the drink.
What changes
Best for
baking, smoothies, marinades, dressings, drinking
The most faithful match in flavour, body and cultures, and the correct answer if you were using coconut kefir out of preference rather than out of necessity. It is thicker and richer than coconut water kefir, similar in body to coconut milk kefir, and slightly more sharply sour. In baking it behaves the same, reacting with baking soda for lift. Obviously not an option for anyone avoiding dairy or lactose, which is the usual reason coconut kefir appears in a recipe in the first place.
5Coconut milk soured with lemon juice or cider vinegar
Different taste
¾ cup coconut milk plus 1 tbsp lemon juice or cider vinegar, rested 10 minutes
The pantry version, which copies the acidity but contains no cultures at all.
What changes
Best for
dairy-free baking, pancakes and muffins, marinades, dressings
Good for baking and honest about its limits. The acid reacts with baking soda exactly as kefir would, so muffins and pancakes rise properly and stay tender. What it does not give you is fermented flavour, which reads as a simple sharpness rather than the rounded, faintly yeasty tang of kefir, and it contains no live cultures at all, so it is useless if you were drinking coconut kefir for gut health. Use the carton coconut drink rather than a tin, which is too fatty for a batter.
6Homemade coconut milk kefir from kefir starter
Close match
Use 1 sachet dairy-free kefir starter, or 1 tbsp water kefir, for every 500ml coconut milk
The real thing cultured at home, which is straightforward with a starter culture.
What changes
Best for
drinking, smoothies, when live cultures are the whole point, cost saving
Worth doing if you use it regularly. Whisk a dairy-free kefir starter into carton or tinned coconut milk, cover loosely, and leave at warm room temperature for 12 to 24 hours until it tastes tangy, then refrigerate. Coconut milk has little sugar for the cultures to work on, so most recipes add a teaspoon of sugar per cup to feed them, and the ferment stalls without it. Milk kefir grains do not survive long in coconut milk and need periodic returning to dairy milk to stay healthy. Refrigerate once it is tangy, and discard anything that smells off, is mouldy or fizzes violently.

What is Coconut Kefir?

Coconut Kefir is Coconut kefir is a dairy-free fermented drink made by culturing either coconut milk or coconut water with kefir cultures, which produces a tangy, lightly fizzy liquid that is thick and yogurt-like when made from coconut milk and thin and almost sparkling when made from coconut water.

Cooking tips

Identify which coconut kefir the recipe means, because the two are barely comparable. Coconut milk kefir is thick, opaque and creamy, useful in smoothies, overnight oats and baking. Coconut water kefir is thin, clear and fizzy, essentially a drink. Substituting one for the other will either leave a chia pudding watery or make a glass of something creamy and heavy where a light spritzy drink was intended.
If you want the probiotics rather than just the tang, the swap has to be another live-cultured product: coconut or dairy yogurt, water kefir, kombucha or dairy kefir. The lemon-juice trick gives you acidity only, and any of these cultures are killed by baking, so a kefir muffin is not a probiotic food regardless of what you use.
Coconut kefir is more sour than most coconut yogurt, so when you swap to yogurt the dish often tastes flat. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice per cup and taste; it is a smaller adjustment than adding more yogurt and it does not thicken the mixture further.
Do not use coconut kefir or any cultured swap to alter the acidity in a canning, pickling, fermenting or curing recipe. Those recipes rely on a tested acid level for safety, and a homemade culture varies far too much to be relied on. Follow a tested recipe exactly and check the National Center for Home Food Preservation guidance rather than improvising with a fermented dairy or coconut product.
In baking, coconut kefir is contributing acid, liquid and a little fat. If you swap to something thinner like water kefir or kombucha, hold back a tablespoon or two of the other liquid and add a teaspoon of oil per cup, or the crumb will be drier and less tender.

Frequently asked questions

What is the closest dairy-free substitute for coconut kefir?

Unsweetened coconut yogurt thinned with water or coconut water, about three parts yogurt to one part liquid, with a squeeze of lemon juice to match the sharper tang. That gives you the same coconut base, a similar pourable consistency and live cultures if the tub says so. If your recipe means the thin fizzy coconut water kefir instead, plain water kefir or unflavoured kombucha is much closer, since both are light, tart and lightly sparkling.

Can I use dairy kefir instead of coconut kefir?

Yes, one for one, and it is the best match in flavour, body and range of cultures, since coconut kefir was created to imitate it. It is slightly richer and a little more sharply sour, and in baking it behaves identically, reacting with baking soda for lift. The only reason not to is the obvious one: if the recipe specifies coconut kefir because someone is avoiding dairy or lactose, then dairy kefir defeats the purpose.

Can I use coconut yogurt instead of coconut kefir?

Yes, with two adjustments. Thin it, because kefir is pourable and yogurt is not, using about a tablespoon of water or coconut water per three tablespoons of yogurt, and sharpen it, because most coconut yogurt is milder and sweeter than kefir; a teaspoon of lemon juice per cup does it. Buy plain unsweetened, since vanilla coconut yogurt is very obvious in a savoury dressing or marinade. Whisk it smooth before thinning so it does not stay lumpy.

Can I just leave the coconut kefir out?

It depends on the job it was doing. In a smoothie you can drop it and use more coconut milk or plant milk, accepting a sweeter, less tangy drink. In baking you should not, because it is supplying the acid that reacts with baking soda for lift and the liquid that keeps the crumb tender; sour some coconut drink with lemon juice instead. If you were drinking it for the live cultures, leaving it out simply means you are not getting them, and no acid trick changes that.

Can I make coconut kefir at home?

Yes, most easily with a sachet of dairy-free kefir starter whisked into coconut milk and left at warm room temperature for twelve to twenty-four hours until it tastes tangy, then refrigerated. Add a teaspoon of sugar per cup, because coconut milk has little natural sugar for the cultures to feed on and the ferment stalls without it. Dairy milk kefir grains can be used but weaken in coconut milk and need regular spells back in cow's milk to stay healthy. Refrigerate as soon as it is tangy, and throw out anything mouldy or foul-smelling.

Related substitutes

More dairy alternatives substitutes

Coconut Kefir substitute

Other coconut kefir substitutes

2Water kefir

3Plain unflavoured kombucha

4Dairy kefir

5Coconut milk soured with lemon juice or cider vinegar

6Homemade coconut milk kefir from kefir starter